Dickson County Source

History is the story of ordinary people who have done extraordinary things. What sets many of these people apart is a gift they have been given that they are able to focus in a way to make a difference. Frank Goad Clement’s gift was oration. He could move people with the fiery power of his words. He used this gift to become one of the state’s longest running governors, and one that made a significant contribution to the modernization of the state. [caption id="attachment_16505" align="aligncenter" width="800"] photo by Jim Wood[/caption] Clement was born on June 2, 1920 in a room in the Hotel Halbrook in Dickson, Tennessee, a railroad hotel that his mother, Maybelle Goad Clement, managed. His father, Robert Samuel Clement, was a lawyer and local politician. He grew up playing in the halls of the hotel, where they lived in the manager’s apartment, and listening to the stories of the traveling salesmen who came through, according to a video about hi...